Feasibility & acceptability of novel smoking cessation smartphone sensing app delivering support by realtime events

在英国，每年有300万吸烟者试图戒烟。然而，这些尝试大多失败了。其中一个主要原因是因为吸烟者从周围环境中感受到吸烟的暗示或触发因素，例如看到别人吸烟。使用应对策略可以帮助吸烟者抵制吸烟或避免这些情况。然而，吸烟者并不总是有效地使用应对策略，大多数试图戒烟的人在4周内重新吸烟（复吸）。这项拟议中的研究将探索一种新的方法，帮助吸烟者使用智能手机应用程序管理这些类型的情况。该应用程序的核心功能之一是智能手机传感系统。该系统要求吸烟者在开始戒烟尝试之前记录每次吸烟的信息。每次他们这样做时，手机都会使用其内置的传感器（例如全球定位系统，GPS）来记录他们的位置。一旦他们开始戒烟尝试，并接受标准支持，该应用程序将在他们接近或位于过去吸烟事件之一时提供建议和支持。我们计划评估可行性（它是否做了它应该做的事情？）和可接受性（吸烟者认为这种支持有帮助吗？）在两项研究中，这将帮助我们了解如何改进应用程序以及我们研究它的方式，以便在更大的研究中对其进行测试。

Three million smokers try to stop smoking every year in the UK. However, most of these attempts fail. One of the main reasons for this is because smokers experience cues or triggers to smoke from their surroundings, such as seeing others smoke. Using a coping strategy can help smokers resist smoking or avoid these situations. However, smokers do not always use coping strategies effectively and most of those attempting to quit go back to smoking (relapse) within 4 weeks. The proposed research will explore a new way of helping smokers manage these types of situations using a smartphone app. One of the core features of this app is a smartphone sensing system. This system asks smokers to log information about each smoking episode before starting a quit attempt. Every time they do this the phone uses its in-built sensors (e.g. Global Positioning System, GPS) to record their location. Once they start their quit attempt, as well as receiving standard support, the app delivers advice and support when they approach or are positioned in the location of one of those past smoking episodes. We plan to assess the feasibility (does it do what it is meant to?) and acceptability (do smokers find this type of support helpful?) of this app using smokers in two studies. This will help us learn how we might improve the app and the way we study it in order to test it out in a larger study.